I’m looking at changing the wheels on my Mk1 and fancy some Minilite style wheels in either 14" or 15". I’d like them to have a little bit of a dish, not massive, but not the type where the spokes seem to stick out past the wheel rim. So I need some expert advice on what to look out for and what off set I should idealy be looking at, my 5 is a BRG V-Spec.
Your comments appreciated.
Cheers
Marcus
Here’s my’90 Roadster with 15" Watanabe wheels, a very high quality Japanese copy of the original Minilite. You get an odd set on e bay also try the importers like Andrew at Autolink
You might also want to look at the Rota RB, available in a variety of finishes. Jibberingloon will do you a good deal on them, and if you’re lucky like I was, take you for an exhilarating test drive in his supercharged Roadster.
Cheers,
Bertie Bassett
Can anyone identify this wheel?
Can’t make out the logo properly, but could be one of the split rim Watanabe wheels, maybe the RS8 style.
Here’s the Watanabe website
I don’t know what that Watanabe website link is, but now I can’t use Microsoft Word[::(]
Tis the Watanabe home page, I’ve linked to it many times[:^)]
It asked me to down load a translater program so I could view the site, I did that I was asked to restart my computer which I did, now on start up I get a message error with regards to Microsoft Word, plus I still can’t open up that link as it locks up my computer, I hope its not a VIRUS!
My computer is firewalled and AVG’d and it has always worked ok for me. Run AVG and see what it says[:|]
OK will do, we have AVG.
I’ve just bought these wheels 15" x7", are they Watanabe wheels? I’m not sure what the et is though.
They look to be, is the logo the same as this?
Yes thats the same logo. I’ve been looking at the picture of your blue/white Roadster and they look the same wheels, do you know what et yours are?
Cheers
Marcus.
35mm
I think they are the same, he mentioned either 35 or 38mm I can’t remember which, I’ll report back on that when I pick them up at the weekend. I’ll need to find some center caps next for them, any idea’s???
The ones shown in the picture were made for me by one of my machinists, when I ran a large engineering workshop. I bought a billet of alluminium of the appropriate length and diameter and he did the rest. The ally was very cheap and the time on the lathe, a couple of hours.
The wheels et is 36 and they are 15x7". I’ve started cleaning them up which isn’t taking long as they are very good condition. I’ve also just ordered a new set of Watanabe stainless wheels nuts from Rev9 so should look pretty good when on the car, I just need to get the correct RS Watanabe centre caps now.
Did you manage to get centre caps for Watanabe wheels i have lost 2 of mine and cannot find any centre caps any where they are the 60 mm hole ones shaped like a hexagon nut because the rear hub nut protrudes through the wheel centre hole. Any one out there know where to find any centre caps. I realise now why i see that many MX5 s on the road with no centre caps. Tony
Did you get the centre caps for the Watanabe wheels if so could you tell me where from plus do they look like mine please see photo’s Tony
Hi Tony
Yes I got some used Watanabe centre caps after a long search (I couldn’t afford them new after I bought the new Watanabe wheel nuts at £165
) but they were actually to small for the centre bore of the wheels. I ended up using ‘Duck’ tape wrapped around the centre cap lugs to make up the difference.
Mine are different to the ones you have on yours though, I’ll take a picture of them for ya.